Neighbours scaffolding leaning on my wall

Riisargh5

#EDIT: Work on the neighbours roof started today. 7 days after the scaffolding was put up. No one came to assess it for H&S which is required by law. They have put rubber behind each pole so I'm more relaxed about that now. Today my husband took the builders contact details etc just incase. They swept up after themselves which is good but using my broom. & resting their sharp tools on my garden bed! Am I being harsh? 


ORIGINAL POST:
Firstly, apologies if this is in the wrong place. I have searched but can't quite find anything that's similar to my problem. 

My neighbour needs necessary work on her roof (rented property, this is the 3rd tenant in 3 years due to terrible damp & mould in the house which the landlady just covers up rather than fixing it) 
So my point is, when the scaffolders came to say they needed to errect in our back yard (terraced houses) we gave them permission as I know it will help my neighbour in the long run. 

We conirmed their insurance, length of time for work etc. Builder said they'd be starting tomorrow (last week Friday) "weather permitting". Weather was lovely for November, its Tuesday now & they've not started so going to be longer than their initial agreed time.

Our problem is, several of the metal poles are pushed against our walls (for stability I'm assuming) but surely there should be some sort of protection put on the ends to reduce possible risk of damage? 

Do we have the right to ask them to put something on there to protect our property? 

We have also emailed NASC to ask for advice. 

Thank you in advance. 

AskAsk

i don't think that will cause any damage to the wall.  the scaffold are supported entirely by themselves so they wouldn't be using your wall for support.

Belenus

We had scaffolding recently. The scaffolders asked permission of our neighbours to do something similar to your house. They kindly agreed and there were no marks or damage when the scaffolding was removed.

You may find that those poles are not actually touching your wall but are just very close.

GDB2222

You’re probably better off than us. The neighbour’s scaffolding was braced against our window!

neilmcl

I don't see any problems with that. The scaffold will be self supporting and won't be relying on your walls to keep it stable and I don't see it will damage your walls either.

Murmansk

As others have said, most of the force will be downwards through the scaffolding, not sideways into your wall. In the unlikely event that someone came along and hit the other end of that pole with a sledgehammer it'd probably not do much if any damage to a brick wall 

twopenny

I agree it's unlikely to do damage.

There were a few worrying moments when I had scaffolding  all round my house but no damage was done.

What I did when my neighbours put scaffolding on my roof without asking me (and my house was for sale!) was to go out and take photos from every angle just in case. Again, turned out unnecessary but it made me feel a lot better.

DiddyDavies

As soon as it's all down, make sure that you have a very good look around at all of your guttering, downpipes and any other pipes you have on the side where scaffolding is to check for any damage.
I've had scaffolding on my property twice in the past couple of years and on both occasions the workers removing it managed to smash guttering. They did pay to get it replaced both times but if I hadn't noticed at the time and only contacted them at a later date then it may have been a different story.

Riisargh5

Thank you for everyone replying. 
So I received a reply from NASC who actually said no pole should be touching my property (which they are, it may not be visible in the picture but the ones at the top you can see from the toilet room) They also said the poles should have a protective cap on the end, especially when they're using my property/land to do their work on someone else's property. 
I have spoken to the builder who is going to get the scaffolder to put said caps on the ends.

Fingers crossed they don't create any damage, regardless of how small. 
I'll post an update with any new news for others if they're in a similar situation. 
Thank you again. 

Riisargh5

neilmcl said:

I don't see any problems with that. The scaffold will be self supporting and won't be relying on your walls to keep it stable and I don't see it will damage your walls either.

I thought that too, but then why make the poles sit all the way on the brick and the sill that's above the window? (not sure what that's called 😅? (there's plenty of room to move it away) so logic says the only reason would be for support, or atleast to restrict movement while using it. 🤔

MovingForwards

Regarding this:

#EDIT: Work on the neighbours roof started today. 7 days after the scaffolding was put up. No one came to assess it for H&S which is required by law. They have put rubber behind each pole so I'm more relaxed about that now. Today my husband took the builders contact details etc just incase. They swept up after themselves which is good but using my broom. & resting their sharp tools on my garden bed! Am I being harsh? 

You / your husband have spoken with the workers before, just have a quiet word and ask them not to do it. They are clearly approachable and make changes when things are mentioned.